We have reached part 5 of our Marketing Rules series, the final installment of “The 10 Most Important Rules of Smart Marketing in the New Economy.” Once more, if you want to read the first 4 blogs in the series you can read them all on our blog page here:
The 10 Most Important Rules of Smart Marketing in the New Economy
How You are Losing Out by Not Following These Marketing Rules
The Cause and Effect of Marketing Rules
Marketing Rules: Impact the Critical Areas of Your Business
…just be sure to start with the first blog in the series titled: “The 10 Most Important Rules of Smart Marketing in the New Economy” and read the rules in numeric order from there.
In this final glimpse into the most important rules in Marketing, we cover rules 9 and 10, which discuss the importance of Strategic Growth.
Rule 9: Diversify by Developing New Services and Products
By utilizing research, customer surveys, and general customer demand; a company can uncover new products or services.
Utilizing research, helps understand what trends are dictating the future of your industry and analyze which of those trends are essential to grow your business.
By conducting surveys, you uncover modifications that the customer would like to see, perhaps enhancing your products or services to a broader market.
Listening to your customer is crucial. If you are not providing what they want to buy, you can discover what new services and products to offer.
Create a new product and service grid.
You are free to contact us for a template or use your own.
Some great low-risk options to consider are:
- Developing products or services that coincide with existing products or services
- Combining existing products or services to produce a product or service with a higher perceived value.
- Creating a new product or service from existing components as a low-cost way to diversify.
- Analyzing the biggest customer concerns to develop problem-solving products or services.
Rule 10: Expand Your Market
Expanding your market is the way to sell more. In a struggling economy, you must move from areas that are shrinking or depressed and move into areas that want and can afford your product or services, low unemployment and more discretional income to increase sales.
You must become more aggressive with marketing and advertising in hopes you can take customers away from your competition. Internet marketing, new locations or affiliates are ways of expanding your market and sales.
Some examples of expansion tactics include:
- Researching for New Geographical Markets with Growing Demand
- Researching New Markets Geographically that are Un-served or have Weak Competition
- Researching for Strategic Partners that have Customers that Need Your Service but don’t Compete Directly with Your Type of Business
- Making an Acquisition in a Growing Market
- Discovering Ways to Obtain Client Fulfillment on the Internet
Whatever growth projects you choose to take on, the most important thing to remember is that you need to make these moves to keep your company from growing stagnant.
Research shows that when the right combination of systems innovation and strategic projects are monitored, measured, and improved over time; the Organization and its people dramatically increase performance.
The longer your Organization waits to implement growth projects, the longer it will take you to achieve your goals. Failure occurs when you do nothing.
A recent study showed that when revenues are flat and costs increase by only 3% (Examples of Costs = Energy costs, healthcare, taxes, general expenses, etc.), then profits will decline as well. This is why Strategic Growth Projects are essential to achieve Sustainable Growth.
Learn More about Market Expansion
In closing, it is important to remember that it is imperative to follow all ten of these marketing rules in combination, in order to achieve the greatest business success.
What are your experiences with this? We want to hear your story! What has or hasn’t worked for you? Please let me know in the comment section below. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like more information. Call us at 989-791-2475.
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